In training for wrestling and other combat sports and disciplines, including but not limited to mixed martial arts, capoeira, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a person must learn and practice what are referred to as penetration techniques and tactics. Penetration, in this context, refers to the act and process of stepping into one's opponent, by stepping forward with one foot and moving one's hips forward. There are multiple tactics by which one can penetrate into an opponent. Existing apparatus and training devices allow a user to practice grappling and improve necessary strength, but do not allow a user to practice penetration techniques while in free motion across a matted surface, meaning a surface covered with padded mats such as those on which wrestling practice and matches take place. To develop and practice the penetration techniques, a person must be able to freely move around on the matted surface, so that the person can practice stepping forward into the opponent and moving one's hips forward to drive the opponent backward, while grapping with the opponent. Prior art devices, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,481 to Adams, Jr. et al. (the '481 patent) and US Patent Application 2006/0116250 by Adams and Walker, Jr. (the '250 application), allow a user to grapple with a dummy figure of a person, which dummy is mounted on springs attached to a framework, but which framework is not safely moveable across a matted surface. Neither the '481 patent nor the '250 application allow a user to practice penetration techniques while in free motion across a matted surface, limiting their usefulness in training for wrestlers and other combat sport trainees. Non-patented products exist as well, such as the “attacker dummy” and “snap and shoot plus” disclosed in the Information Disclosure Statement by Applicant filed with this application, and which examples contain the same shortcomings as patent-literature prior art: the “snap and shoot plus” and similar products are bolted to a wall, precluding practice in free motion across a surface, among other shortcomings; and the “attacker dummy” cannot be a stable object that a practitioner could use to practice shooting and other penetration techniques while driving an opponent backwards across a surface.
Other devices exist for training users in grappling and movement in other contexts, such as in blocking in football. A football blocking sled does allow a user to train in grabbing another person and pushing them, but this is not the same as penetration techniques and tactics. A football blocking sled, such as US Patent Application 2010/0203986 by Gilman (the '986 application), presents a blocking-practice apparatus that may be loaded with weights to provide varying amounts of resistance, and which may be used on a playing-field surface, such as grass, dirt, or artificial turf. But the '986 application does not allow for use on a matted surface, which it would tear up and destroy. It also is not useable for practicing penetration techniques because the geometry of the uprights is conducive to practicing grabbing an opponent by the torso or arms, but not practicing grabbing an opponent by the waist or legs, as the uprights are too far apart from each other. Furthermore, the arrangement of the components comprising the '986 application are conducive to training a user to grapple with an opponent and pushing into them with the user's torso and midsection while driving with the user's legs behind the user. In contrast, when practicing penetration techniques, the user must practice driving into the opponent's midsection and getting the user's center of gravity low so as to drive one of the user's legs between the opponent's legs—which is referred to as “shooting”—in order to take down the opponent—meaning drag them down onto the matted surface to pin them. The '986 application, and other prior art aimed at practicing football blocking (or other blocking for field sports), cannot allow a user to practice shooting, because there either is not space for the user's leg to go between the uprights, or there is a cross brace situated so close to the uprights that the user would damage his or her leg in the process.
Finally, the prior art does not allow a user to practice penetration techniques in free motion on a mat, solo. Practice against other people is always useful, but at times, it is helpful for the person practicing and for others, such as a coach, to be able to practice alone, to focus on their own techniques. The present invention allows a user to practice penetration techniques and tactics alone, and also with a partner as weight on the apparatus. In summary, the problems of the prior art are a lack of suitable apparatus for practicing penetration techniques, for practicing solo, for practicing penetration techniques in free motion, and for practicing on matted surfaces.